Adventures in Finland, the Kitchen and the Sewing Room

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Monthly Archives: March 2013

We’ve arrived in Los Angeles about a week ago. We are already settled in quite comfortably, but still exploring the neighbourhood. But more on that when I have some more and prettier pictures than this one:

View From Bedroom Window – One week ago

So far I tried to keep some balance of topics between posts. However, as I will not be able to sew for the next three months I sewed the hell out of my stash just before leaving and naturally want to write about it. So sorry for the one-sided posting! It will soon be biased towards other stuff than sewing, such as cooking and knitting (I’m already halfway through a cabled sweater). But first, here’s a project that I’m simultaneously proud of and a bit unsure about:

Sewaholic Cordova Jacket – Poser picture!

As I had mentioned in that post, I had some wool bouclé (or tweed? not quite sure anymore) left over from the Burda cowl neck dress. Coincidentally at around the same time Sewaholic released their Cordova jacket pattern. I was instantly in love with it! However, I was somehow intimidated by it and waited until one week before departure to start cutting. The remnant was only 1.5m long plus some odd shaped piece, which added to my insecurity. Eventually I kicked myself into action and managed to squeeze out all the pieces for view A.

Cordova Jacket – Closed zip front view

Because I waited so long to start I did not go about this project as carefully as I should and normally would. I didn’t mark all of the notches (only the pleats at the sleeve), and it showed. The top peplum edges at the front didn’t match up (the were off for about 2.5cm), so I had to do some fiddling with the zipper placement. Now they are even enough not to notice. No such problems at the back, though:

Cordova Jacket – Back view with perfectly lined up top peplum edges

What is visible in this shot, however, is the fit. It is off. The jacket is HUGE on me. I tried to remedy that by taking in the center front and back by about 3cm each. But the above picture is the result from this. Still too big. On the up side, I can fit a thick woolen sweater under the jacket with no problems, but considering this is more of a Spring jacket I’m not too happy about it. Tasia wrote in the pattern description that the jacket can be easily fitted because of the princess seams. That is technically true, but I didn’t know how to go about it with the peplums, as they span all the seams except center front and back.

Cordova Jacket – Side view, not as fitted as I’d like

So the jacket doesn’t fit as nicely as the one Tasia is wearing in her Cordova anouncement post. Now, it might be that my fabric stretched, as it is woven quite loosely. However, I think it’s the pattern that runs large, as my measurements correspond *exactly* to the size 8 in the sizing table. But to be sure it’s the pattern that is big and not the fabric that stretched I will “unfortunately” have to make another version in a sturdy denim as soon as I’m back home. 😉

I really like the design and I’m very proud of the jacket, as you can see from the next picture:

Cordova Jacket – Lining

It’s a lined jacket after all! (Although I have to say that the credit for how easily this came together goes to Tasia, as the instructions are very clear, as usual). It is also very comfortable to wear and I’m happy I brought it with me, as it is colder than I expected (and packed for) here in Venice. Due to that (I’m freezing more here than back home) I started working on a cabled sweater the day after we arrived (1 week ago). I’m already almost done with the body of it. So next post will either be about the neighbourhood (in case it gets warm and sunny) or about a new sweater (in case it stays cold and foggy).

Even though I didn’t have the use of “my sewing room” (a.k.a. the guest room) and went on a mini-vacation, I still made some clothes. I even used some stash fabric!

Right after the Burda cowl dress I needed to do something easy and straightforward. So I took out the (free) Eva dress pattern by Yourstylerocks again and set to work. It took only 1.5 meters of polyester ponte knit and about 4 hours to complete from cutting to hem finishing. Here’s me wearing it on New Year’s Eve:

Eva Dress II – December cowl dress II

I made it because I wanted to start wearing pretty stuff at home instead of just pyjamas or sweatpants. As I wrote the first time, it’s extremely comfortable to wear, thus perfectly fine for lounging. It’s also my favourite dress to wear when we have guests as it looks quite put together. And I just love the colour! PB calls it my colour, as I wear it all the time (even if I’m a summer and not supposed to wear turquoise). Some more detailed photos:

Eva Dress II – The way I wear it for lounging

Eva dress II – back view

In just one week we are leaving for Los Angeles (for 3 months! Eeek!) and this will be my flying outfit. Comfortable and doesn’t wrinkle.

Then, after we came back from Switzerland, I made some layering pieces, as they were lacking from my closet. I had seen the Nina cardigan pattern at StyleArc and it looked exactly like a cardigan I loved but that had shrunk in the laundry. It’s described by StyleArc as a “waterfall front cardigan”. So no surprises I loved that one, as in German a cowl neck is called “Wasserfallausschnitt”, which means waterfall collar…

I had this polyester knit in my stash, and like every sewist I seriously need to stash bust. It’s close to what the pattern suggests (they provided a fabric swatch with the pattern, how cool is that?). So here’s my first StyleArc Nina cardigan:

StyleArc Nina Cardigan I

StyleArc Nina Cardigan I – back view

StyleArc Nina Cardigan I – back detail

On this first version I left the edges raw, since the fabric doesn’t fray. As a reviewer on Patternreview noted, it’s an easy and instantly gratifying project (provided you have done similar things before). The pattern istructions are very minimal, but rather helpful, as I found out the second time around. See that non-matching seam in the detail shot? I wanted to avoid this in the second version, so changed the order of sewing. Big mistake, as it took a lot of fiddling to put it together the way I did. And in the end the seams didn’t meet up either, as you can see from this detail shot:

StyleArc Nina Cardigan II – back detail

StyleArc Nina Cardigan II – front view

This one is made in the same ponte knit as the above Eva dress, but obviously in red. I overlocked the edges this time, as I had perfectly matching thread that I never use. The cardi goes great with all the grey office dresses I have in my wardrobe. I just love how it falls and the compliments I got when I wore it the other night.

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Lazylinchen

I'm an ex-librarian, English master, mum to two boys, and wive to a genius. I like to cook, sew, bake, knit, and DIY in general.
I mostly live in central Finland and am always happy to meet new people (online and off).
You can contact me at lazylinchen (at) gmail (dot) com